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Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Originally Posted by JediTricks

Did you buy ALT Wheeljack, and if so, how is he? I am still unsure if I will bother with that design or not.

He's not perfect, JT. I love what they did with his sword, And I really like the design, but there are paint runoff, the whites don't match perfectly, and they didn't paint the engine like they painted Grimlock's. And the doors fall off way too easily. And he doesn't really have eyes. But I love him. I love all these Alternators.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Originally Posted by JediTricks

Wow, that sounds pretty bad, the doors on Grimlock come off way easy so anything worse would be like an old Ford Pinto or something. What did they do with his sword?

You know how Grimlock's sword is clear in the middle with an orange flame and a flat orange painted handle? For Wheeljack, the center of the sword is transparent blue, the outside is clear, and the handle is transparent. It has a very nice look and just the fact that it's both a different color and a different style rocks my socks. And yeah, the doors falling off is annoying, but I've transformed him a few times now and it might have just been that the joints where so stiff they popped out without any give. But the doors are pretty bad, regardless.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

I've always liked the BM Blastcharge mold, but never its colors, so when I saw this TFU fig I was surprised and caved, making it my first TFU purchase (besides Nemesis Prime, I just remembered). This one is packaged with upper tray instead of any twisties, hallelujah!!! Only the missiles are twistied into the tray, and that's cake. Instructions have been perverted to serious confusion with tri-lingo text on each step, very few panels, shows 3-wheeled mode though, but neglects gimmicks.

TFU Blastcharge's black color with silver urban camo "rips" looks pretty sharp, nothing chromed this time, and transparent blue plastic a welcome change to the red of the original's, purple wheels not that bad looking actually; the silver plastic is a little dull and the lighter purple elements aren't that great, but still an improvement. Bot mode head sticks out worse in vehicle mode now though. Front bumper sports only Decepticon symbol, and it's TINY! Spark crystal behind the grill totally removed this time, kinda bummed about that since now you can see through the front end a little. Some Parts and joints feel a little cheaper here and there, nothing disasterous I'd say, and the front and back wheels are a little looser so there's a bit more wobble but they also roll on smooth surfaces better.

Bot mode adds a few orangey-yellow accents, the silver plastic elements including the head now seem more out of place, and the purple hips and upper arms seem a little too lavender, but it's not that bad. In intended mode, Blastcharge can't stand at all anymore, workarounds are either inverting hips so they're backwards and knees don't work (which is how I always used to transform the original, it's more stable), or instead rotate the "feet" around so the stupid-large toes are heelspurs (I think this looks better, helps offset the big missile-launching chest). The original's free-rotating foot issue is now even worse . Blue missiles can still be unofficially stowed between wheel-shoulders or held as clubs. The bot mode is still not going to be to everybody's liking but I think it looks nifty and robot-y, very different and mechanical.

All in all, I still like the mold and I like the alt mode paint enough to recommend it possibly over the original even.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

Can anyone stand Wheeljack (or Grimlock) on their own 2 feet without support?

Every other Alternator stands on its own in robot mode.

With this, the flimsy-ness, and the doors falling off, this one might disappoint me more than Meister.

I rank mine from best to worst:

Ultimate Prime
Tracks
Sideswipe
Smokescreen
Hound
Meister
Wheeljack

Unfortunately, some of the newer ones have been showing a decline in quality rather than an improvement.

I've never had a probem standing Wheeljack or Grimlock. Are you positioning his feet/seats all the way to the front of his leg/ankle area? That joint has a lot of articulation so he can strike a number of poses without support. Wheeljack's flimsyness, however, seems to belong to him alone. Grimlock has none of those problems. I'm surprised you put Meister so low on the list. I would have tied him with Tracks and definintely but him ahead of the Viper molds. And he's a way better figure than Smokescreen, even though they're based around the same transformation scheme. I can't wait to find Shockblast.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

yeah, i don't share the outlook of the decline in quality as time goes on... my rank of what i have (i won't include prime, i mean, he's not really an alternator, and none of them can compare anyway...)

meister
smokescreen/silverstreak
windcharger
tracks
sideswipe
hound

i think meister is an improvement on the (already fantastic) smokescreen/silverstreak transformation. meister is just more refined. the only thing i didn't like about smoke/silver was that you kind of had to fuss with the posts with the magnets on them to get the arms in the correct position. i always felt like i was forcing them. (a hold-over terror from my broken dinobot "snarl"...) whearas meister doesn't have that problem. his legs/feet are better, since the back window isn't attached, and i like the fact that he has real looking back seats. the ONLY thing (besides the fact that he SHOULD be called jazz,) is that his head doesn't have great articulation. that said, everything else is an A++.

hound has amazing leg articulation, but his tiny T-Rex arms, and the hollow chest kinda detract from the coolness. although, i've found if you stuff the wheels back up into the wheel wells when in bot form, it not only gets them out of the way, but it fills up the chest a little. the only thing is, this means he can't twist at the waist, but i find the articulation in his legs makes up for this. the main detraction is all the crap hanging off his back. they couldn't have made the rollcage into some kinda break-apart bo staff or something? that would've been cool. not in character, but cool...

tracks is awesome, but hard to transform, and after he is in robot form, he's kinda... i dunno... jagged. like he's a bunch of pieces of broken glass. the doors are the biggest problem, but the front quarter panels impede his mobility as well. but the fact that he's so armed is awesome, and i view the doors and such as his "armor."

i see windcharger as a refinement of both the sideswipe and tracks transformations. took the best of each and combined them, with a couple new additions to the mix.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

OK. I get it. I was doing Wheeljack's feet wrong.

Now he's improved for me a lot!

The instructions are not always clear enough that I can tell from the pictures what I'm doing. Other times I think I'm so smart that I don't fully study the directions. I think the latter happened this time.

Thank you all for the opportunity to share with you how stupid I am. It's been a pleasure keeping you informed.

Re: Transformers: Energon & Beyond

How could you be doing the feet wrong? You just fold the seatpan flat and it's a foot, right? At least it's working for you now, good to know. After hearing how flimsy he is, I think I'll end up passing on Wheeljack unless some glowing reviews start coming down.

I think so far, many of the resculpts have been slightly lesser quality. Of the new sculpts, I think Grimlock and then Meister have the most parts come off, but neither are a major problem the way Wheeljack is being described, that's too bad.

Darth Vader is becoming the Mickey Mouse of Star Wars.

"In Brooklyn, a castle, is where dwell I"

The use of a lightsaber does not make one a Jedi, it is the ability to not use it.